It's fun to say "they call us Mormons, but do you know why? It's because we use this book..."

19 December 2011
FAMILY!
  Well, I'm still in Masatepe. :)  And I'm going to talk to you all in less than a week.  crazy.  I'm really excited for this change, and I'm really glad to be in Masatepe for Christmas.

26 December 2011
   And that's all I wrote last week.  Well, it was really fabulous to talk to you all.  I loved just hearing your voices.  That was probably the best part.  I think I might just like to talk to you two, Mom and Dad, next time.  It was great to hear everyone though.  I really felt happy.  I thought I would write you a few cool things that are happening here.
   I'm learning how to be a lot more focused on my purpose.  Before I wasn't as direct in anything. Now it's more like...Hey how are you.  Buenas Noches.  Soy Hermana Tew.  Nosotras somos misioneras de la iglesia de Jesuscristo de los Santos de los ultimos dias.  Conoce la iglesia?  Alguna vez ha entrado?  Pues, nuestro proposito como misioneras es invitar a todos a venir a Cristo... I still need to work on going more to the Book of Mormon.  It's fun to say "they call us Mormons, but do you know why?  It's because we use this book..."  Our purpose really is to invite everyone to come unto Christ - the members, our contacts, our converts, the 11-year old, the Catholic couple.  It's a lot more fun and a lot more rewarding when that's what my focus is.  In PMG in the first chapter it says that our success is measured by our commitment to our purpose.  There's a lot of ways to measure that commitment.

2 January 2012
   It's been fun to spend Christmas in Nicaragua.  We went Christmas caroling with some RMs and jovenes. Yay!  Oh boy a lot of time has passed.  This is my third p-day with Hna. DeHoyos.  I'll try to give a quick run down of a normal day.  I wrote about a usual morning in my last email.  So here's the after lunch bit.  We leave Hna Xiomara's house by saying "thanks for the food" and clearing up the dishes.  We shake hands or hug or give kisses.  Then we're out the door.  We walk to some appointments and take motos to others.  We contact the moto drivers.  Hna DeHoyos likes to always have caramelos (candies) in her backpack to give away.  So we give a caramelo to the taxi drivers. That's usually really fun.  The most fun is to give the caramelos to people who obviously Do Not Like Us.  Hna DeHoyos likes to give those people hugs too. :)  She just walked over to a lady who had walked away after we had started contacting her and the rest of her family.  And Hna DeHoyos gave her a hug.
9 January 2012
    We have appointments and we have other just planned times to visit people - like just my companion and I plan and hope that they're there.  Well, today I'm going to write you about the craziness that was last week.  It actually was a good experience for me.  No fun, exactly, but good for me.  God's definitely in charge.  I've learned a lot from Hna. DeHoyos and I tried to put in practice everything I learned.  We watched a movie called Jarron Azul..  It was the story of a guy who had to buy this blue vase from a store and there were a million obstacles in his way.  He had to make hundreds of phone calls to people he didn't know, he had to hire an airplane, run, do lots of crazy stuff.  It was really cool.  He wanted to get the vase so badly that he did anything he could, but he was given the opportunity to break into the store and he wouldn't do it.  He didn't do anything he shouldn't have, he just didn't take no and he kept on working, even after the deadline he missed.  At the end, he gave the vase to his boss, who had asked for it in the first place.  He had spent his own money, paid a huge price and asked a lot of people to help him.  At the end, the vase got dropped and broke.  His boss just told him that the vase didn't really matter, he just wanted to see how dedicated the man was and how much he could be trusted.  We watched the movie on Friday as part of district meeting.  That was after I had called eleven people to see if they could go on splits with me and my companion.  So, that was a good movie for me to watch because it gave a longer term perspective on my situation.  How badly do you want to do God's will?  What are you willing to sacrifice?  How will this experience help me be a better missionary, and mom and person?
     Well, we're waiting in the hospital in Managua. Our choir practice today went well.  We had to change the song to be a hymn.  We're singing I know that my Redeemer Lives, arranged by Amy Webb.  It's pretty.   We only have one practice more:  next Monday.  I saw some missionaries I knew from the CCM - they're both in the North mission.  One of them was a roommate.  I could understand them---that was so awesome.